Elastic bands often get discarded and then get tangled up in fur or beaks of wildlife. Their beige or red colour often means they get mistaken for food (like worms) so some creatures eat them, or feed them to their young. Others get washed away to sea. And although ‘biodegradable’, like balloons, they kill or harm wildlife way before that happens.
Royal Mail uses millions of red rubber bands each year, which are accidentally dropped by posties. Ask Royal Mail to stop using them at Change petition, and ask them instead to use paper belly bands or other wildlife-friendly ways to secure letters. It’s not the posties’ fault, it’s the responsibility of Royal Mail to come up with an alternative.
One idea if they won’t comply is to fine them. One man who found an elastic band in his cat’s litter tray said Royal Mail should be fined £80 (just like us) each time for littering. Royal Mail uses around 2 million rubber bands a year, so why do they not have to comply with the law too?
Royal Mail’s response is to report a postie who drops a rubber band. This is unfair, as no postie is dropping them on purpose. There are plenty of eco solutions out there, like biodegradable fabric wrap with seals.
One hedgehog brought to a Hampshire wildlife hospital by a mother and daughter, had to be put to sleep 2 days later. After they found it stumbling around, it was found to have a dropped elastic band tightening around its body. It had been there likely for most of its life, gradually cutting off the circulation and causing infection.
